Christmas 2024 Newsletter
Posted 20th December 2024
We have reached the end of another incredibly busy term at Temple Learning Academy - we have packed a great deal into the last seven weeks!
The term started with Anti-Bullying Week where all children were invited to wear odd socks or shoes, to raise awareness and celebrate
being unique and special in different ways. All pupils were reminded and encouraged to speak out if they ever have concerns for themselves or others.
Remembrance Day was marked with special assemblies across school and showing our respect with a minute’s silence throughout TLA. Our Early Years pupils learned about the importance of Remembrance Day by exploring poppies in various ways and creating their own poppies to make a Remembrance display.
Our Sports teams have continued to thrive, with fixtures nearly every week for our football, basketball and netball teams.
We held our first Secondary Rewards Breakfast of the year at the start of term, and the first to be invited were our amazing 'Gold Members' in the secondary phase! Those students have been recognised for their outstanding attendance, positive attitude to learning and for earning the highest number of positive stamps during half term one. A huge well done to all our Gold Members – keep shining brightly!
Art and Photography at TLA
Our artists continue to impress us here at TLA – and this term, one of our students received an extra special accolade when Pujitha in Year 11 won a national competition to design the festive e-card for the AQA Exam Board to use across the country in their Christmas emails and communications! Two visitors from AQA visited TLA to present Pujitha with her award - a framed print of her design, a card from their CEO plus a £50 voucher. Well done, Pujitha!
We held our House Photography Competition in November with the theme ‘Winter is Coming’. This was won by Zlati in Year 9 with her beautiful photo of crisp, frosty autumn leaves!
Continuing with the winning theme, some of our Primary children entered the BBC 500 Words Competition earlier this year and have won book tokens – well done to all who entered!
Team Green have been very busy litter picking this term around the school - inside and outside. They have done a fantastic job to
keep our school clean and we are very grateful for their efforts!
We marked ‘Children in Need Day’ on Friday 15th November with our Primary children wearing something spotty!
Our TLA student leaders from across the Academy visited Austhorpe Primary School on 25th November to attend the Red Kite Youth Board Meeting. They shared their views on multiple topics and entered into debate with the other schools in a professional and informed manner. They were all excellent representatives!
Back in November, our Year 11 artists visited The Hepworth in Wakefield; to tie in with their Natural Forms and Patterns coursework.
As luck would have it, there was also Surrealist work on display which coincides with their previous coursework. Our artists took photographs, made sketches of their observations, made lots of notes and fully immersed themselves in the work of Barbara Hepworth and many other artists. They had a great day and, as always, were a credit to themselves and the school!
Primary student leaders
On 29th November, our primary student leaders did a fantastic job taking on the roles of many of the adults in school. We had junior policemen, headteachers, caterers, teachers, site staff etc.. It was a wonderful day, and we were all in awe of how hard the children worked, and how they adapted to the different roles in school. We definitely have some future leaders - well done to everyone involved!
Primary and secondary Pupil Voice Conferences have taken place this half term; this is a fantastic opportunity for students to share their views and suggestions on a wide range of topics relating to their learning, enrichment and behaviour and attitudes. Some changes have already been implemented as a result of this feedback, with more to come.
Christmas festivities have been in full swing over the last couple of weeks – kicking off with a fabulous Nativity performed by our Reception children on 9th December. The Heart Space was packed with families and we were all singing by the end of it! We also had the Primary Christmas Fair on 10th December, which raised an incredible £822.00, and Carol concerts this week! A delicious Christmas Dinner was enjoyed by all students and staff on 13th December, whilst raising money for Save the Children by wearing our Christmas Jumpers!
Yesterday, our Year 7s went on a trip to the Pinocchio Pantomime at The Bradford Alhambra Theatre! They saw a fabulous show, enjoyed ice cream at the interval and were a credit to TLA!
As part of the Primary Religious Education curriculum, all primary children will visit a different place of worship across the academic
year. This half term saw a trip to the Buddhist Temple in Leeds City Centre for Year 4. This was a fantastic opportunity for students to engage with, and learn about, the religion firsthand and ask plenty of questions – which they did with confidence and respect.
Attendance at TLA
As I’m sure you are aware, attendance is our number one priority at Temple Learning Academy. Absence is the main barrier to your child learning and achieving, whatever their school phase or year group. To help increase attendance, we have been running the '12 Days of Christmas' event to highlight how important attending every single day is. Remember, even missing the odd day here and there can create gaps in learning - it's like missing an episode of your favourite TV programme and coming back to find that there are new characters, and a big thing has happened in the plot - you have no idea what's going on!
We know the winter can bring colds and illnesses, but please remember that unless your child is really ill, we can care for them in school and contact you should they need to come home. Please see our infographic of the NHS guidance below.
Let’s make excellent attendance and punctuality our 'New Year's Resolution' in January! To help, we are offering all our students and families the chance to win amazing vouchers and opportunities, just by attending every day. Please follow our Facebook page for more information - you just have to be in to win!
Please remember, Monday 6th January 2025 is a staff training day. The first day we will welcome back all our pupils is Tuesday 7th January 2025.
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